Garden Help Desk: Some strawberry types can benefit from winter mulching
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- June-bearing strawberry plants that have good winter protections with mulch or row cover will have plenty of blooms in the late spring and early summer.
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- Strawberry flowers can be damaged by late spring frost. The black center on this springtime blossom is from a late spring frost. If berries are blooming but the forecast warns of frost, some light overnight protection for the plants can reduce this problem.
Is it true that I won’t get any strawberries next year if I don’t cover my strawberry plants with lots of straw for the winter? Why is straw so important for strawberries?
Most perennial plants, including strawberry plants, will benefit with some mulch over the winter. Whether or not using mulch means you’ll get strawberries depends on what kind of strawberries you have. There are three different types of strawberries we can grow in our gardens: June-bearing (one large harvest in early summer), day-neutral (harvest spread out from mid-summer into fall), and everbearing (a smaller crop in the spring and again in the fall).
Day-neutral and everbearing strawberries form their first flower buds beginning in late spring and continue into early summer. The buds won’t be exposed to frigid winter temperatures. Some buds might be killed by a late spring frost, but continuing bud development in the spring means there will be more flowers to replace the lost ones. Even though there aren’t any flower buds to be damaged by winter exposure, your plants will still benefit from some protective mulch during our coldest months.
Strawberry plants are winter hardy, but the buds aren’t. June-bearing plants form their flower buds only in late summer to early fall. These buds must overwinter and survive until spring. If the buds are killed or damaged during the winter, they won’t bloom or produce fruit the next summer. Winter protection for tender June-bearing buds isn’t limited to straw mulch, though. A layer of leaf mulch or some other protective breathable covering like heavy-weight row cover can prevent winter damage to the developing buds. If you choose to use straw, try to find clean, weed seed-free straw to reduce the amount of weeding you’ll need to do during the fruiting season.
The mulch you choose should be lightweight, breathable and somewhat “fluffy.” Avoid heavy products or products that pack down or settle tightly against your plants as they can encourage plant decay. Take steps to make sure your mulch or cover won’t be blown away in the wind. Remember to remove the mulch in the spring, but be prepared to provide temporary overnight frost protection if late frost warnings are in the forecast.
Some readers may be growing strawberries in a container. If so, keep in mind that your plants will be exposed to temperatures at least one zone colder than they would be if they were planted in the ground. You can try to protect them with extra covering, but you should also place them where they will be away from standing water. Clay or ceramic containers can crack in freezing weather if they are kept where the pot is exposed to rain or snow. Terra cotta containers often flake away if left in contact with the soil where they can wick up moisture that freezes at night.
You’ll want your plants to stay cold and dormant for as long as possible to avoid the plant damage that could occur if they break dormancy in the early spring and then experience a late hard frost, so also avoid putting your strawberry container in locations that will get warm direct sun at the end of winter.
